In a YA twist on the classic Shakespearean play Romeo and Juliet, Solomons tells the events from the perspective of Rosaline Capulet, cousin to tragically chivalrous Tybalt and tragically romantic Juliet and the first Capulet girl to fall for the deceitful words of Romeo Montague. Readers see the well-known events unfold from Rosaline’s perspective while also learning of her own story, of how she fell in love with Romeo offstage and how he left her behind for her younger cousin. Solomons gives both Rosaline and Juliet greater agency within the constraints of early modern Italy and the established Shakespearean play, finally letting these two girls have their moment in the spotlight. Solomons’ characters and their relationships with other figures drive the story forward, and Solomons expands upon their relationships, emotions, and possible motivations behind their onstage actions. The characters are incredibly well-written, maintaining their original Shakespearean portrayal while also exhibiting greater agency and depth of character -- particularly, of course, for Rosaline and Juliet -- and this adds to the depth of story and reader investment in this narrative. Solomons’ take on the classic Shakespearean play is a well-written narrative filled with excellently developed characters who get a chance to reclaim the narrative.

I am not really sure how I feel about this book. I didn’t love it, I guess “liked” fits better. It’s marketed as a prequel to Romeo and Juliet, so if you understand that, it might be enjoyable for some readers. Some other reviews I stumbled upon mention a “retelling” and I don’t feel that fits correctly. It was a book that I had trouble keeping engaged with, so for that reason, it’s not one I would highly recommend to others.

Wow wow wow! What an incredible, feminist retelling of Romeo and Juliet. This was SO good. I loved it.

It felt just a little wicked to read this behind Shakespeare's back, but it was so good to have someone twist his half-told tale into a fuller story. Having read and seen R & J many times through these years, and always walking away slightly pissed off (what a waste of life!), I've always felt as if we are hearing only a part of a much deeper, danker story. Huzzah!!! Here we have a response! I'm not the only one left wanting more. . .

Rosaline, pops into life onstage - displayed by Shakespeare in only 10 mentions: she's the girl named by the ribbing of Romeo's fellows, reminding him that he can do better; and by the chiding of the Friar who is creepily over-interested in Romeo's love life. From this small literary outcropping comes Fair Rosaline - an engaging reimagining of a larger story of which Juliet's time with Romeo is just a part. The mood grows darker and far more dangerous. Another compelling example that blurred lines between good and evil, hero and villain, are alternately clarified in the telling of a tale, depending on the voice with which it is carried.

A very enjoyable read, and by way of side bar - this was a treat for my inner Bard: the dialog between speakers felt apt (if not wholly correct) for the time of Shakespeare's writing. Altogether a delight for this old girl, who has always thought Romeo less a hero, and far more a villain.

*A sincere thank you to Natasha Solomons, Sourcebooks Landmark, and NetGalley for a free ARC to read and review.*

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Romeo, oh Romeo, you're a very bad man.

Sharp, fresh, feministic retell of a classic tale. The plot is well-paced, with twists and turns that add depth and heartbreak to the narrative.

Rosaline is taken in by Romeo's smooth words but things aren't always as they seem.
Can she stop Juliet from becoming his next victim.

I’m all for a good retelling but this was not that. Things move super slow, and were relatively bland. As for writing style there was definitely some inconsistencies; it would flip flop between feeling Shakespearean to more modern language. I didn’t connect to any of the characters, though I really wanted to be team Rosaline I found I just didn’t care what happened to the characters in the end. This may have been partially linked to finding out Romeo is written as being in his late 20s or above and is constantly on the prowl for girls 15 and younger… like no thanks not my kind of book.

This book was a great read that I devoured. I loved the characters and the storyline. I wish I had more to read!

I have read A LOT of Romeo and Juliet retellings...but Natasha Solomons's FAIR ROSALINE has to be one of the most creative and thoughtful reimaginings of the tragic play. Solomon clearly did her research and is obviously well-acquainted with the original source material. Her novel was everything I had hoped for, especially from Rosaline's perspective. Best yet, it was just really well-written. The writing has such a strong voice; I was immediately sucked into the story. This is exactly the sort of well done feminist take we should see of the classics. FAIR ROSALINE is definitely one that is getting added to school and classroom libraries.

A fascinating reimagining of one of Shakespeare's most popular plays, as seen through the eyes of an overlooked character.
Romeo and Juliet is arguably Shakespeare's best known and most performed work, yet Rosaline, a character who plays a pivotal role in its opening acts, is seldom recalled; although she's Romeo's obsession before he meets Juliet, the Bard gives her no voice. In Fair Rosaline, Natasha Solomons corrects this oversight, rewriting the tale from this forgotten woman's point of view and casting the star-crossed lovers in a completely new light.

As Solomons begins her tale, 15-year-old Rosaline Capulet has just lost her mother to the plague and her father is sending her off to a convent, where she'll remain cloistered for the rest of her life. She bargains for a 12-day reprieve, and vows to spend the time enjoying life as much as she can. She sneaks into a party given by her family's enemies, the Montagues, where she and Romeo meet and enjoy a romance that lasts until Romeo encounters Rosaline's cousin, 13-year-old Juliet. The story largely follows Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet from that point, although as observed by Rosaline.

What turns this familiar tale on its head is the author's depiction of Romeo. In her imagination, he's not a teenager in love but an older predator – Solomons envisions him to be about 30 – who's constantly on the prowl for extremely young women he can use and then callously discard. It's an incredibly creative take on the story, turning it from a romantic tragedy into a much darker narrative about powerful, manipulative men and their victims.

In addition to simply being an interesting spin on an old story, Fair Rosaline is top-notch historical fiction. Solomons frequently inserts period details that lend her account credibility. She writes, for example, that people sniffed "posies and oranges studded with cloves to ward off the plague" and that "harmony in church was banned by Rome for inspiring profane and lustful thoughts" – information that helps her readers become fully immersed in the world she creates. Her dialog, too, mimics what one thinks of as period speech without it becoming so realistic as to be unintelligible (e.g., "I should like to know you better, daughter"). It comes across a little stilted at first, but once one's "reading ear" gets used to it, it's effective, preventing the dialog from seeming too modern. I was also impressed by the author's beautifully descriptive writing:

At dawn the sun rose again and Rosaline with it. The dew was fresh upon the grass, laundering it clean and bright and luridly indifferent to her misfortune. Bees diligently pursued dangling lobes of jasmine for pollen, and a woodpecker rapped for breakfast.

The author takes a risk rewriting such a well-known and beloved tale, and some may have a difficult time enjoying such a radical reinterpretation. I for one found it challenging to reconcile Shakespeare's Romeo with Solomons', and I remain unconvinced by her rationale for this interpretation of the play, which she bases on Shakespeare's unusual emphasis on Juliet's age. And although Solomons' attention to historical minutia is admirable, at times her characters' actions and attitudes seem anachronistic, especially regarding Rosaline's interactions with Romeo and Tybalt.

Despite the issues mentioned above, I found Fair Rosaline interesting and entertaining, and a worthwhile read. I recommend it to readers who've enjoyed books like Circe and Ariadne – novels that give voice to women who, until now, have been silenced. Its beautiful prose and outstanding historical detail should make it popular with those who appreciate well-written historical fiction, and its feminist themes make it a good choice for book discussions.

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark for my copy! All thoughts are my own.

2023 has been the year of surprising books for me. I was intrigued by the title alone by Fair Rosaline, but when I realize it was more on the lit fic side of the genre, I wasn’t too sure if I was going to have the brain power to read it. But then I found the audiobook on Scribd and in about three seconds of listening, my expectations were dashed and I was sucked in.

As an actor, I have always loved Shakespeare retellings. But this book isn’t a re-telling…it’s an un-telling. It’s taking ownership of the women in the story of Romeo & Juliet which, as a very loud feminist, was quite important to me. This book made me rage, cry, and feel at peace. I’ve always felt like Romeo was the character needed to point fingers at, but people always like to make fun of Juliet for being young and dumb. But she isn’t, and to finally give voice to Rosaline was so important to me.

Synopsis:

“The first time Romeo Montague sees young Rosaline Capulet he falls instantly in love. Rosaline, headstrong and independent, is unsure of Romeo's attentions but with her father determined that she join a convent, this handsome and charming stranger offers her the chance of a different life.

Soon though, Rosaline begins to doubt all that Romeo has told her. She breaks off the match, only for Romeo's gaze to turn towards her cousin, thirteen-year-old Juliet. Gradually Rosaline realizes that it is not only Juliet's reputation at stake, but her life .With only hours remaining before she will be banished behind the nunnery walls, will Rosaline save Juliet from her Romeo? Or can this story only ever end one way?

Shattering everything we thought we knew about Romeo and Juliet, Fair Rosaline is the spellbinding prequel to Shakespeare's best known tale, which exposes Romeo as a predator with a long history of pursuing much younger girls.” —StoryGraph

What I Liked:

The “Untelling” Aspect—I didn’t invent this term, it came from the author herself. There is an interview with her at the back of the book and it made so much sense in hindsight. I think a lot of people will be able to relate to the “coming out of a plague” aspect of this story.

The Pacing—This story moved so well! It takes place over just two weeks and so you process everything with Rosaline and it all feels so plausible.

The Reveals—The reveals of all the villains and heroes! I know the play extremely well but I think even if you don’t you’ll still be nodding along cause it all makes SENSE. I’m obsessed.

What Didn’t Work for Me:

I wanted a little more from the ending, but I think that’s because I became so attached to Rosaline.

Character Authenticity: 5/5 Spice Rating: 0/5 Overall Rating: 4.75/5

Content Warnings:

toxic relationship, adult/minor relationship, gaslighting, death of a parent, death, emotional abuse, drugging, infidelity, murder, miscarriage, still birth

*I received a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this opportunity*

Trigger warnings: pedophilia, sexual abuse, grooming, death

In this retelling of Shakespeare's beloved Romeo and Juliet, FAIR ROSALINE takes a deeper look at not only the off-cast character of Rosaline, but the titular characters of the original play.

After the death of her beloved mother, Rosaline Capulet discovers her father has no plans to pay for her dowry-- but instead, Rosaline will live out her days at the local nunnery she visited as a child. Desperate for one last night of freedom, Rosaline sneaks into the Montague household's summer party where she meets the infamous Romeo. Quickly swept off her feet by the charming man, Rosaline will soon uncover the dark underbelly of her fair Verona and the love of her Romeo.

Rosaline is a strong heroine and her character arc was compelling, and I thoroughly enjoyed the ending of the story, <spoiler> specifically that there was hope Rosaline could find fulfillment at the nunnery, but it was let open ended for reader interpretation </spoiler>. Solomons frequently pulls dialogue directly from Romeo and Juliet and blends it into the story seamlessly, and she did a superb job bringing 14th/15th century Verona to life.

However, this story was wild. Extra points to the author for creativity-- the idea of <spoiler> a middle aged Romeo being the pimp of the upper class sex trade where he seduces literal children (Juliet is 13 in this story, Rosaline 15) and then sells them into sexual slavery is certainly creative </spoiler>. FAIR ROSALINE is certainly not for the die hard fans of Shakespeare, because the departure from the source material is pretty intense.

I am fascinated by the negative reviews this book has earned, and I feel they are incorrect. Why not take a small character from a play and run with it? Why not ask the question - who was Rosaline, and why is she so small a character?

I enjoyed this book, and I especially enjoyed the fact that Solomons does not dream up Rosaline out of thin air - it is clear that Solomons has read and researched Shakespeare fully, and she bases the character of Rosaline on the Rosalines that appear in his other plays.

This book is a fun piece of fan fiction that I enjoyed. I will also be using it in my classes because it helps students to see beyond the traditional characters in the novels they traditionally read.

One of the trendy things to do currently is to apply modern ideologies and conventions to age old stories.
Solomons reworking of Romeo and Juliet does just that.
I appreciated her giving a voice to Rosaline but I thought her making Romeo out to be the villain and lout was too much.
The ending had an interesting creative twist.

Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for the eARC.

Comprehensive, engaging and entertaining tale of Rosaline.

I’ve been teaching Romeo and Juliet off and on for 20 years. Every time, I tell the kids, “Romeo is a player.” Clearly, Natasha Solomons agrees. Solomons does not follow the usual theory that Romeo is a teenager, and backs up her interpretation in the notes at the end of the novel. In this case, having Romeo be in his 30s makes him even creepier. No…pervier. Really. He’s not just a player, he’s a groomer and an abuser.

Told from the point-of-view of Rosaline, the woman we only hear about in Act I of the Shakespeare play, this story takes the tragedy much deeper. Romeo leaves a wake of ruined girls behind him. He likes them young and innocent and, with Friar Laurence’s help, makes sure their lives are ruined after he loses interest.

Rosaline’s character is well-rounded and beautifully imperfect. She is impetuous and opinionated and defiant. She’s also very smart, and once she puts two and two together and realizes just how Romeo has played her, she doesn’t just cry and whine. She acts. Her revenge is perfect and appropriate. She makes sacrifices to see justice served, and considers them worthy sacrifices.

This story is not without heartbreak. How could it be?

Possible Objectionable Behavior:
Unmarried sex, pregnancy, violence, death, drinking, mild cursing.

Who Might Like This Book:
It helps, but isn’t essential, for you to be familiar with the source material. If you like coming-of-age stories, this is a good choice.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book is also reviewed at https://biblioquacious.blogspot.com/2023/09/an-assortment-of-new-releases.html

A fantastic Shakespearean retelling that even the Bard himself would have enjoyed. This wonderful feminist take on "Romeo and Juliet", starring Rosaline, Romeo's first love interest was beautifully written and Rosaline herself comes alive on the pages. I loved the descriptions and the poetical phrases that Ms. Solomons used to tell this tale, and I savored every line. It was about time Rosaline had her story told, and she is no fair shrinking maiden but a strong and capable woman in her own right. Highly recommended, especially for those who loved "The Marriage Portrait" and "Circe", this book was absolutely fabulous. Ten stars!

From the first time I was introduced to Romeo and Juliet nearly 20 years ago (YIKES!), I found it odd how quickly Romeo moves on from Rosaline when he meets Juliet. When I heard about Fair Rosaline, I was so excited to read a version of the story that dives into her version of events.

You could certainly read Shakespeare’s play as disturbing on several levels. As Solomon points out in her author’s note, Shakespeare goes out of his way to point out how young Juliet is, which is not true of his other characters. As Juliet says in & Juliet, “On my next birthday, I’m going to be 14.” The audience/reader does not learn how old Romeo is, which makes this emphasis on Juliet’s youth especially disconcerting.

Solomon’s highlights this predatory element of the story by positioning Romeo as a serial romancer and manipulator of young women. She turns the way Romeo moves on so quickly from Rosaline from a sign of true love for Juliet into a sinister pattern.

I know Romeo and Juliet like the back of my hand. I’ve taught the play, studied the play, and seen the play many many times. Despite that, Solomons managed to keep me in suspense about what was going to happen next at every turn.

As a Shakespeare nerd, I loved Solomon’s nods to both the original text of Romeo and Juliet and to his other plays. Rosaline references “Pyramus and Thisbe,” which is the play that the Mechanicals in A Midsummer Night’s Dream put on at the wedding at the end of the play. It made the story feel driven by a real knowledge and appreaciation of Shakespeare’s work.

Solomon’s prose is lyrical and poetic, painting vivid images of everything in Rosaline’s world. She writes of Rosaline’s early feelings for Romeo: "Her pulse was a bead in her throat, as tight beneath her skin as the fluttering wings of a moth. She wanted to reach out and touch his hand, feel the rough fingertips worn from the leather of his horse’s bridle and the solid muscle of his thigh. Was this impulse, this need to touch, love?" The language is so precise that the reader can help but be drawn into Rosaline’s thoughts and feelings.

Rosaline in Romeo and Juliet is quite literally not given a voice. I loved that Solomon turned her into a strong and determined young woman, who is willing to fight against the wrongs she sees around her. It makes me happy that there are so many pieces of art in the world today (like Fair Rosaline and & Juliet) that are given agency to Shakespearean women like this. The ending of Fair Rosaline reminds me very much of where & Juliet begins (if you know, you know), and I’d love to see a sequel to learn what happens next.

Fair Rosaline enthralled and entranced me as I read. It was one of those books that I put down and immediately needed to tell everyone about. I highly recommend picking it up, but I will warn you that it is a very dark version of what is already a tragic story.

As a fan of "Romeo and Juliet" since its required reading during my freshman year of high school (during which we also watched the 1968 film adaptation, my English teacher obscuring Romeo's bare butt cheeks by placing a blackened computer window over them; but I digress), I mostly enjoyed this very 2023-feminist retelling. Romeo is portrayed quite obviously as the 30-something-year-old predator that he is, leaving indelible marks on teenage girls in the Verona that we know and love. We dive into the psyche of enigmatic character Rosaline, who is mentioned but not observed and is the recipient, almost exclusively, of men's sexual objectification and depravity in the Shakespeare original. While this retelling admittedly does hand its moralism to the reader on a silver platter, I think that—in this case—it both works and would be difficult not to do. In my opinion, "Fair Rosaline" falls short of a higher rating due to challenges arising from wonky plot pacing, slightly underdeveloped characters, and a writing style that is technically fine, and clearly simplifies the play's prose to appeal to a modern audience, but one that I did not personally connect with. Nonetheless, the ideas and reworkings of the story are entertaining, and I am glad to have once again delved into this literary universe after many years.

I LOVE Shakespeare and R & J...but I also love when adaptations and unique side stories are written! Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't, but I thought Fair Rosaline was great! I loved that we saw a different side of Romeo and learned more about Fair Rosaline! I don't know if this book will be for everyone but I thought it was a good read!